Vietnam Vet Tim O'Brien Explores Brutal Truths of War through Fiction.
Novelist Tim O'Brien. He was writing about Vietnam long before it became fashionable to do so. His Vietnam memoir, "If I die in a Combat Zone," was published in 1973. O'Brien's 1979 novel "Going After Cacciato" was praised for its depiction of the Vietnam War. It also was the surprise winner of the 1979 National Book Awards -- beating out books by John Irving and John Cheever. His book of stories that followed a group of soldiers in Vietnam, "The Things They Carried," (Houghton Mifflin) began as a short story in "Esquire," and received the 1987 "National Magazine Award." A new novel is due in October. (Rebroadcast from 3/22/90)
Other segments from the episode on May 30, 1994
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